Why is Racial Diversity a problem at most colleges?

College Life
41

<p>So if preference at selective schools has not increased minority access to colleges, then explain how Stanford and similar institutions sudden outreach to black communities were a negative affect? It was those intiatives in the 70's, especially in the East Bay, and transitions from a predominantly white male institution that made formed Stanford's strong black foundation, and representation like the UJAMAA houses that were created Cornell and Stanford in the 70's.</p>

<p>I understand that Affirmative Action does not addressed the issue of higher education, but the issue had been ignored so long, not until the second half of the 20th century, that we can not sit around and do nothing.</p>

<p>And I don't believe intiatives to attract more students of color is doing more harm than good when it comes to selective schools, b/c the unpreparedness you're speaking of is not high SAT scores or dedication but the basics, and I don't ever recall an acceptance to Stanford without the bare minimums and then some.</p>

<p>I also don't think that schools such as Amherst, Stanford, Emory, Oberlin, or Wesleyan would be the school that they are now had they not taken these intiatives to attract students of color when they did.</p>

<p>So it may not make up for the oppurtunity loss and the glass ceiling over the black community for the majority of our nation's history, but something has to be done that isn't, and I believe AA does provide more oppurtunity. I'm a product of two Stanford alum and faculty who were accepted during the time when Stanford was just opening up to black students, and it goes beyond the fact that I wouldn't be alive if it weren't for Stanford and a provost name Condi ;) but that there was an oppurtunity given to my father for the best education available to him at that time, and he took it, and became one of the most budding men they have ever seen, graduated in three years, not four!</p>

<p>I know if it weren't for AA in some form would they have ever looked at rundown schools in East Oakland for students, what at the time, seem to be all students below their level...but were they? No, and my dad proved that, out of Hoover High in East Oakland my father, out of El Cerrito High, my mother.</p>

<p>Now, I doubt my father would be vice president of Harvard medical advancement had he gone to CalState Hayward and stopped at bachelors. Nor would my mom be systems analyst at UCSF Stanford, then MedTech if she'd done to say. I can directly say that it has impacted then and myself since they're the once who raised me.</p>

<p>Also note that the only Ivie that did not take those initiative is the only one with a less than 90% graduation rate of black students...that would be Dartmouth College at 76%, ever other Ivy graduates at least 90%.</p>

42

<p>
[quote]
They wre slaves even in Massachusetts at one point.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>If I'm not mistaken Massachusetts was the first state to legalize the slave trade and Virginia was the first to abolish it. The majority of the wealth from the slave trade benefitted investors in the north.</p>

43

<p>Most HBCU's are jokes, but that's the safety and only option blacks had in the beginning and they do some good, I mean I'd rather have us at Clark Atlanta then on the street, but they don't do such a wonderful job at graduating students. For the few they do, like 36%, power to them, that people than before.</p>

<p>My parents would slap me if I looked at most HBCU, really, there's Spelman, Howard, & Morhouse and at par Hampton, Xavier, and Florida A&M. Other than that, I would pay the other dozens any mind.</p>

44

<p>Let's define "outreach to black communities". While Stanford may have been opening it's door to less priveledged students, it certainly wasn't handing out free admission tickets for students with a 1000 SAT becsause they're minorities. As you yourself said, only minority graduates with the basic requirements are even going to be CONSIDERED for these highly selective institions. Therefore, these students really don't need the leg up that AA offers them. Also, you shouldn't be so hasty to attribute your parents' success to college. Certainly some of it is their personality and their drive. Nobody ever said you can't succeed with a degree from CalState Hayward, and plenty of Stanford grads end up nowhere. For the record, my mother is an extremely successful college drop-out. :)</p>

<p>I agree, we can't sit around and do nothing. And I'm glad that affirmative action has forced schools into looking more closely at and actively recruiting minorities. But affirmitive action is like sticking a band-aid over a huge, festering wound: covers it nicely, but won't solve anything.</p>

45

<p>Hello,BCgoUSC, on what judgement did you think you could call me an idiot, you should be talking, if you can't see I was responding to a comment from a completely different person. What ignorance!</p>

46

<p>BCgoUSC has a good point. People give the (historical) South an undeserved reputation. Many people like to paint a picture of the evil slave-holding Confederates and kind northern Unionists, when in fact, both sides were equally racist. Northerners didn't hold slaves as prevelently as Southerners because infertile Northern soil made farming (and thus slave labor) impossible and unnecessary. When the Northerners began factories, they were jealous of the free labor slaves provided in the South, so they demanded the South free their slaves it to make the grounds fair--but at no point did they desire equal rights for blacks. Not to mention, to most Southerners, the Civil War was about their laid-back farming lifestyle and their desire to maintain it and prevent the industrialization of their homes. Both the North and the South treated blacks like **** and neither side favored the equality for minorities as a rule. In fact, most abolitionists were Southern women who hoped to win over the prevelent black community and form a cohesive union between women and blacks both hoping for greater equality.</p>

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<p>Knoxxxville is exactly right. The Northerners did not hold as many slaves not because they were morally against slavery but instead because the farmland was not as fertile and there was less of a need to have slave labor. The civil war was not about slavery - The civil war was all about money. Lincoln wanted to institute the American System and the south didn't agree. Read the Real Lincoln by DiLorenzo - GREAT BOOK.</p>

48

<p>When I mention bare requirement, I mean course requirements and a diploma...</p>

<p>I agree with you there, it's a huge band aid, and nothing more, but what are we going to do if our money's not going in the right direction?<br>
I don't have any confidence that Schwarzenegger's going to lift California's public schools out of the hole, and I don't see Massachusetts going anywhere but 47th in higher education the way things are going, UMass Boston is in such debt that they currently have no campus housing and no money to build any. But that's okay cause we're #1 in baseball and#1 in football :rolls eyes: I'd rather have a bandaid there than an open wound.</p>

<p>Both my parents ended up working at Stanford after graduating, my dad was a director of finances in the quad, Dr. Condaleezza Rice was provost at the time, and my mom worked at Stanford hospital. I was born at Stanford hospital, got lost all over campus, opened random doors of lecture halls while classes were in session, but they got used to me, I was 7 :) Jamba Juice knew me on a first name basis since that's where all my money went. I love Stanford...then the had to move me out here to ashville outside of Boston in the winter. 7 inches of snow hit us before we could even unpack!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So yeah Stanford is the end all be all to me, and I'd do anything to go back, this time, I'd need to be accepted. No free kids pass into the quad :(</p>

49

<p>Okay, but that was completely of topic, I never made any denial or support of the north's benefit from slavery, that was Edvest1, a page back. All I said was that there WERE slaves in Massachusetts. So can, the BC kid just go back in his hole so we can talk, gracias!</p>

50

<p>W&M was turned into a state univeristy in the early 20th century after the 1880s when it was closed to lack of funding (according to answers.com)</p>

<p>It's the 2nd oldest college in the country, and its plans trace it back to before Harvard, but the plans were put on hold after an Indian massacre. It is the oldest University in the country (despite its name)</p>

51

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_and_Mary_College%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_and_Mary_College&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>"The Commonwealth of Virginia granted the University a formal charter during the early twentieth century, turning William and Mary into a state university and adding the College of Education."</p>

52

<p>So University of Virginia is the oldest state university?</p>

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<p>Edvest, Im sorry, maybe I have amnesia, but when did I blame anyone else for some black guy killing an innocent person. My plain and simple point is that AA is not as cracked up as white people make it out to be or else no black people would be in jail. I personally have my reservations about AA. You guys walk around questioning how every other race got into college except yours i.e your rich daddy, your rich daddy on the alumni board and did I say your rich daddy. I dont even think any of you have ever experienced AA, as in seeing someone get selected over a more qualified individual because of their race. You just blab on about something that you have a general objection to stemming from the news.</p>

<p>Black people dont question how white people got into college so what gives you guys the right to try to prejudge a black person when they get into college.</p>

<p>You know, we have brains too. We work hard and most dont have their parents paying for everything, so we work harder to get that scholarship money. And as I have said before, all too often white people use it (AA) as a crutch as to why you didnt get in to the college of your choice. Its not our fault you failed algebra, but when someone asks you why you didnt get into Yale, you say because some black kid took my spot, knowing full well that you failed. The fact is, that if AA is this miracle pill that you make it out to me, then why do the statistics say different and why are all my peers selling drugs? </p>

<p>I can't hear you...</p>

54

<p>bmoreyo, I honestly can't tell if you're for or against affirmative action. Your argument is bizzare and I have no idea what you're talking about.</p>

<p>Let's put it this way: because of AA, if a white person and a black person have EXACTLY the same stats, come from the same school, hold the same offices, and participate in the same sports, the black person will get in instead of the white person. You can't argue that, because it's the basis of AA. If two people each have 50 points based on their own merit, and one's black, the black person gets 2 points just for being black, and thus the college sends the white kid a rejection letter. But that's not my issue with AA; I don't believe it's anywhere close to a good solution and minorities are being cheated by it. It's like throwing a starving child some bread crumbs when you have a full loaf in your backpack. The starving kid is happy just to have the crumbs, unaware that he has the possibility of having the entire loaf. (I hope that made sense :/)</p>

55

<p>HBCUs do a poor job of graduating students because of economics: lack of scholarship money. Most students at HBCUs have loans and have to work. When they drop out, it's because of economic reasons, research indicates.</p>

<p>That's also believed to be a large part of why the most generous colleges in the country -- places like HPYS -- do the best job of graduating students, including black ones for whom the graduation rate at such colleges can range as high as 95%.</p>

56

<p>
[QUOTE]
Have you read any of the projections this year? That census is over 5 years old and is objective when addressing many predicaments.

[/QUOTE]

Show me one source that indicates there is a minority majority in the US. All of them say around 2050. Perhaps you are confusing California with the entire country.</p>

57

<p>Are you serious, Knoxville is there at every admissions decision and has witnessed a white and a black together and each and everytime, they pick the black person.</p>

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<p>yeah the black kid may get 2 extra points, but the white kid will get 20 points for being related to the state senator (See the University of Michigan system)</p>

59

<p>The black kid would also get 20 points for being related to the state senator. Unless you can show that all white kids are related to the state senator....</p>

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<p>bmoreyo: </p>

<p>Right, because EVERY white person is related to a state senator, and EVERY white person is rich beyond belief and loaded with unfathomable amounts of cash. I don't think getting points for ANYTHING you didn't achieve on your own is fair, whether it's connections or race.</p>

<p>"The stuff you say is so stupid, are you high when you write this."</p>

<p>I'm sorry, was that a question? I didn't see a question mark anywhere in it.</p>

<p>I never said anything about that sitation being true, but theoretically it would be the outcome, wouldn't it? I don't see how anyone can possibly argue against that. Let's say, factoring in relations to senators, that a white and a black kid each have 50 points. The black kids gets 2 points for doing nothing, and therefore comes out on top with 52. This could easily work the other way, like you said, the white kid could get 20 points for being related to a politician and come out on top. But that's not affirmitive action, so I have no idea how it's relevant. If the black kid were related to a senator too, he'd get 22 points, and still win.</p>